Beautiful Pies! I noticed that your recent formula used a preferment...was it a true poolish with ADY? Also, I am interested in your times of mixing, fermenting, etc...

What difference did the preferment make to your original formula in January?

What did of oven are you using, and what are the times there?

Congrats of the weight loss and I look forward to hearing your replies...

RJelli

RJelli,

Thanks.

To answer your questions:

I used 45% of the total ADY in the poolish of each formula. The poolish of the first one was fermented for 12 hrs, the second one for 24 hrs, both at room temp.

The poolish, especially the 24 hr one added a bunch more flavor to the crust. For the oven I used my home oven and a stone, lowest rack and heated to 630°F. The bake time was about 7 minutes. I didn't really time it but rather pulled it when it was visually okay to me.

Now for the mixing process...

I added the flour to the poolish, then the sugar, the rest of the yeast, gave it a couple of spins, added the salt and then the oil. I mixed it until it all came together and then let it rest for about 30 mins in the bowl. Then I let the mixer knead it for 8 minutes on Speed 2.

Poured it onto a lightly dusted counter, gave it a few manual kneads, shaped it into a ball and gave it a bench rest of another 30 minutes, covered with plastic wrap. Removed the wrap, dusted it lightly again, gave it some quick kneads, shaped it into a ball again and placed it into an oiled bowl, brushed the dough with some oil, covered it and gave it a 24 hr cold ferment.

That sums it all up, basically.

« Last Edit: May 25, 2012, 11:15:34 PM by Essen1 »

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Mike

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." - Albert Einstein

I mixed it together last night and will give it a 24 hr fermentation. The pics are from last night (Page1) and from this morning, after 12 hours (Page2). It's coming along nicely and the smell is great, very yeasty...

The formula for the Biga:

134 gr. Power flour (100%)81 gr. Water (60%)0.34 gr. ADY (0.274%)

There's an artisan pizza shop in Palo Alto that uses Bigas in their dough formula and the pies are just stellar. The photo of the pizza below is what I'm shooting for.

Last night, after a 24 hr fermentation of the Biga, I incorporated it into the final dough formula using my stand mixer.

I used water at an 80°F temperature, added the Biga, the flour, the sugar and the rest of the ADY. I gave it a spin of one minute just to roughly mix everything up, added the salt and mixed for another two minutes until no raw flour was visible. I then let the dough rest for 30 minutes before adding the oil so that the flour had a chance to absorb the water.

The dough was then kneaded on Speed 2 for 5 minutes. Since I used the Power HG flour I didn't really wanted to overknead everything. I poured it onto the counter, shaped it into a ball and gave it a bench rest of 20 minutes before placing it in a bowl for the overnight 12 hr ferment.

This morning I divided the dough into two 430 gr. balls, oiled them up and back into the fridge they went for another 12 hrs, until 7pm tonight.

I think this was possibly the airiest dough I have ever made. I couldn't believe the large voids on the bottom of the dough.

I started to tinker around with some dough formula over the weekend after I recently saw a photo of Ken's Artisan Pizza in Portland.

Unfortunately, I have never had them before but if the reviews on Yelp and Urbanspoon are any indication, the pizza must be dynamite. The only thing I had to go by was the looks of their pies. I couldn't get the exact browning of the outer crust since I don't have a WFO but perhaps a longer fermentation time would help. This one only spent 24 hours in the fridge...

I'll post the numbers a bit later since I don't have them handy right now.

First pic is Ken's used as an inspiration. However, I think I went a little too heavy on the cheese. Less would have been more in this case. The pie was topped with a brandy-infused salami, mushrooms, black olives and fennel sausage...taste was great as was the crumb structure. The flour was KABF. Stone temp was 580°F and bake time was around 8 minutes.

Surely an artisan is just a skilled craftsman? As such, you could have any style of pizza be artisanal if it were made by somebody good at their trade. I personally would also factor in high quality, preferably local ingredients and 100% hand processing, but are there any guidelines as to what is "artisanal" and what is not?

Surely an artisan is just a skilled craftsman? As such, you could have any style of pizza be artisanal if it were made by somebody good at their trade. I personally would also factor in high quality, preferably local ingredients and 100% hand processing, but are there any guidelines as to what is "artisanal" and what is not?

Add half the water to the bowl at a temp of 105°F. Add all the yeast and sugar. Whisk and let it sit for 10 minutes or until it starts foaming. Then add the oil and the rest of the water. Sift in the flour. Pour salt on top of flour and mix on Speed 1 until no raw flour is visible.

Let the dough rest for 20 minutes in the bowl. Then knead on Speed 2 for 6 minutes. Pour onto counter, give it a couple of stretch & folds, shape into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge (bottom) overnight. The next day, divide the dough into 630gr balls and place into individual containers. Put back into the fridge and take them out 90 minutes before use to let them come up to room temp. I placed them directly on the counter, covered with a damp towel.

I always heat my stone on the lowest rack to the max but this time I used a lower temp of 580°F due to the higher sugar amount. My bake time was around 8 minutes. Now...and here's where the use of the broiler comes in...after 6 minutes, I switch over to the broiler for the last 2 minutes, maybe 3 depending on the crust's coloration. My bottom heating element cuts off the second the broiler is activated which I find pretty good because I found that it still provides a nice undercrust and takes care of the rim at the same time.

Now, you're oven may do it differently so play it by ear and keep an eye on it a little.

When it's done, let it rest for a few on a cooling rack.

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Mike

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." - Albert Einstein

So I am now pretty sure that it is "artisan" pizza I am trying to learn to make. Not necessarily rigidly defined by any particular style, but rather crafted with love and simplicity, made with traditional methods and the best ingredients I can source - local wherever possible....